Make Supercars Pretty Again
Hey Good Lookin’

If, like me, you’re a fan of fast cars – and given your current browser location, I’m guessing you are – then you’ll already know that right now is a pretty good time to be alive.

There’s barely a month that passes when news of a new and exciting and/or exotic new product reaches our ears and eyes. Yesterday we were eyeing up the new Lotus Evija, now we’re debating whether the new Corvette C8 is a good thing or not. And it’s not only the big, established brands that are churning them out, but also smaller, independent low-volume manufacturers too.

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See, design and manufacture is more accessible than ever, to all of us. Take 3D printing, for example.

Now I’m not saying that Steve with his £1,000 3D printer can start knocking out a run of hypercars from his garden shed, but it’s a perfect example of both technology and approach to manufacturing trickling down to the consumer.

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My issue with the plethora of fast and exciting cars that get unleashed at Geneva each year, or inevitably leaked across the glossy pages of your chosen automotive publication, is that yes, they often boast mind-boggling performance statistics, and yes, they’re comprised of expensive and coveted composite materials, but they’re rarely what I’d call really good-looking cars.

I’ve said this before when speaking of the McLaren Senna – it’s a tremendously impressive car on paper, and a fantastic feat of engineering, but would you ever call it ‘gorgeous’? I’m not sure anyone would hold their hand up to that.

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The De Tomaso P72 GT, on the other hand. Well, she’s a looker, in my eyes.

Unveiled at this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed, from a brand that you’d probably all but forgotten existed, the P72 took me, and a lot of others by surprise.

So this is what De Tomaso have been doing for the last 26 years since the Pantera, aside from getting really good at going bankrupt.

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I jest – the P72 has been made a reality by the same masterminds (and investment firm) behind the crazy Apollo Intensa Emozione, and it’s built upon the same platform too.

I have to say, I’m a fan of their work. Where the Apollo is full of batshit-crazy with harsh angles, big wings and deep bumpers, the P72 is like a more streamlined cousin.

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It reminds me of sports cars of old mixed with some tasteful modern influences. There’s definitely large doses of Ferrari P3/4 in there, mixed with a sprinkling of Alfa and the obvious inspiration drawn from the original De Tomaso Sport 5000 / P70 race car.

Although not everyone is happy with the P72’s sources of inspiration. I’m not sure if Mr Glickenhaus is missing the irony in complaining that the P72 looks-a-bit-like-the-P4/5-if-you-squint when they’re both clearly inspired by the same car. If the P72 is guilty of plagiarism, then the P4/5 is too, and it sounds to me like someone’s one-of-one Ferrari might have just been upstaged?

And before you say it, I could’ve photographed it clean before this year’s FoS, but you can see photos like that everywhere else. Here, caked in mud, grass and three days’ wear from running up the Goodwood hillclimb, it feels a bit more ‘real world’.

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The bonnet vent, bonnet emblem and rear quarter vents are all P70-inspired. It’s a car that somehow manages to look classic and modern at the same time.

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There’s a few somewhat less tasteful additions too, in my opinion. The wheels are a hard pass, the instrument cluster is a bit much, and although I’m a huge fan of that exposed gear linkage I can’t help but imagine how sexy it’d look in raw billet as opposed to the somewhat chintzy rose gold/copper.

At the back the upswept tail looks fantastic in profile form, and through the gaping rear mesh you can see lashings of carbon fibre along with yet more bling in the form of gold heat-reflective coatings and that intricate exhaust.

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Of course, the addition of a rear number plate is going to spoil all of that slightly, but let’s not worry about that just now…

I could go through all the same blurb you’ll have already seen on the press release and various ‘hype’ articles already, but Google will probably do a better job than I of informing you. I’m just here to share my appreciation of a manufacturer remembering that cars should look as good as they drive, too.

More of this please.

Jordan Butters
Instagram: jordanbutters
jordan@speedhunters.com

Cutting Room Floor
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1

I don't remember where I read it but the best comment on Glick versus the P72 was that you go and build your version of the the P4 then someone comes along with theirs and it makes your look like a cheap Korean knockoff...

2

when you observe both they’re both remarkably different, P4/5 has a lot of straight lines, P72 are all curves very little straight lines compared to the P4/5, it almost looks quite boxy when you compare it to P72 also. Anyway Jim can’t really call out De Tomaso for tracing... Look at his 006..

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3
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4
Keaton Belliston

I think I read that in the comments on Jalopnik? There were some great comments there about how every racer from the 60's looked damn near identical, so of course two different cars inspired by different 60's race cars are gonna have similarities.

5

My beefs with the P72 are that it's a shameless knock off of the Ferrari P4 (or P4/5 if you wish) and the tasteless Roman numerals on the rev counter. Good on them for giving it a manual tranny and all but why not design the car after a De Tomaso Pantera or some such thing?

6

Not really though they’re both from the same era and one is horizontal and boxy, the other is voluptuous and curvy.. He is shamelessly knocking off the Shelby Daytona and Also the Ferrari 275 GTB/c with his own scg 006..

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Author7
Jordan Butters

Aside from them not really looking *that* much alike, did you read the bit about how it's not surprising that two cars inspired by cars from the same era are going to share design similarities? To me it looks like De Tomaso have built a far better-looking homage to the P3/4 (and cars of that era) than Glickenhaus managed.

8

Yes, all 60s racers of that type looked similar. Sort of.

However, this isn't the 60s. You cannot deny it is obvious that the design team at DeTomaso cast a lustful eye towards the Glickenhaus creation.

My real issue with this car, is the amount of negativity it seems to be generating towards Glickenhaus. I don't get it. On one side of the equation we have a regurgitated brand whose name was purchased from probably it's last bout with bankruptcy, who unveils a car that is a rebody of an existing car , which is the remains of another bankrupt/failed company more or less.

Then, on the flipside we have a company who is now designing it's own bespoke cars, racing those cars at Le-Mans, and has long-term plans to manufacturer in the US.

I like the Detomaso, but it is Glickenhaus's efforts that I find much more exciting.

9
Jordan Butters

Honestly? I think they took inspiration from the P3/4 definitely, but not so much the P4/5. I can also see the clear inspiration from the P70 too. Oddly I think the P72 is a most fitting modern day version of the P3/4 than the P4/5 is anyway, at least aesthetically, even if that wasn’t their intention.

10

I on the other hand think it looks gaudy.

11
Jordan Butters

That’s cool - all opinions are valid. The above is simply mine.

12

No taste in this creature.
Probably something for Emirates.
Same No-taste as a Pagani Zonda.

13

This car is pure magic. While im not really a supercar guy I know a lot about them but this, is beautiful. Huge props to the designer becouse I just cant stop looking at it. The shifter is a piece of art itself! Wow!

14
Fajar Dorothea

It's time for all supercars manufacturer to build something purely for style. Angry angular lines are cool for kids, but sexy curvy lines is more mature and timeless

15

Agreed.

Shoot for timeless.

16

A Jalopnik article basically said the exhaust looks like a b-hole, and I can't unsee it.

17

I can see what your first mistake there was…

18

Also - if that’s true it’s not normal. You’ve had work done.

19

lol! yeah taking anything from them seriously is a mistake.
Personally I think the car is gorgeous, and I agree with you on some of the chintzy interior bits.

20

If u ever seen SPEED RACER as a kid this car looks alot lime RACER X's car. Builders should just watch Speed Racer for ideas!! This car is beautiful!!

21

Great photos! Disagree about the wheels and the rose gold/copper scheme overall, I find it incredible personally. Exciting car!

22

You know what a girl walks in the room and she's so hot that every other girl in the room knows it? No one says anything, no one really acknowledges it, but there's a shift where even hot girls are looking at their boyfriends like "are you looking at that!?!?"

...that's this car.

23

No way.

An exotic car covered in vents, canards, spoilers and clearcoated carbon is the automotive version of a tatted-up skank in skintight jeans, green hair and a tank top. That's HOT. You don't want that.

This car is the BEAUTIFUL girl with a pretty face, clean skin and nice clothes that fit properly.

You want this.

24

I'm really diggin this one, though the interior has this Spyker C7 feel to it...Maybe it's just me...

25

I'm sorry, I meant the B6.

26

This is retro design which means its lazy design, it is a cash cow with an interior straight out of "Big Fat Gypsy Wedding", OK most modern Auto design is driven by marketing departments...the rise of SUV's being a case in point as well as the increased profit to manufacturing ratio they bring, F**K the environment we are making bigger margins....BUT...the real reason Supercars and transport design is suffering from a particularly bad and often cliched design period right now IMO, is the very small pool of influence that car design takes inspiration from, I studied car design at Coventry University in the early 90's and the coverage of the degrees shows I see now looks very very similar to those of thirty years ago...the same can not be said of most other design led fields...most car designers take inspiration from other car designers....and in my experience very few look for inspiration from other forms of art/design/culture...one of the reasons that the "Speedhunters" coverage is so interesting is that other cultures have a definite influence...Hey thats enough of that, Man the P72 is just a rich mans rebooted Beetle/Mini/500

27

See, this is the main reason I hate the R35. It's ugly.

Its immediate predecessor, the R34, was one of the most beautiful cars ever designed, and one of the few cars in my dream garage. When the R35 debuted, I was crushed.

This was the shape of "better?"

I could forgive the high weight or the switch to a V-6, but not the car's misshapen appearance or its lack of a proper manual.

Same as with the C8 Vette that just surfaced. Oh. Hell. No.

Your basic premise is right. Exotics are ugly these days - as a direct result of trying to be extreme.

Too many vents, too much detail and too many lines on top of a poorly-laid-out general shape.

The Four-Wheeled Literbike aesthetic simply does not work.

The F40, the Countach, the Koenig Testarossa and the original NSX all worked with a minimum of lines and a great deal more subtlety.

28

this car is so cyberpunk-ish. maybe because of the color theme? but my god it's looking mighty fine!

29

what do you mean make them pretty again ? loads of new modern supercars are stunning, another stupid post.

30

About the similarities between this one and the Glickenhaus P4. The Glickenhaus was designed as a hommage to the old iconic car, it is modern with styling cues that are retro, but in a modern way of designing cars. This De Tomaso just looks like someone found an old kitcar (one of those that where mounted to a beetle chassis) and put shitloads of tasteless chinatown fake luxury shit on/in it and slapped a De Tomaso badge on it. It would be so much cooler with a hommage to something actually meant something to De Tomaso, the Pantera.

31

It pays homage to the De Tomaso Sport 1000, Sport 2000 competizione and P70....

32

Yes, i know, and if we are talking about these it makes me even more confused, they where proper race cars, this is blinged out to the max, does not feel like a race car. Again, for me this is a pimped out kit car, not a proper modern reindition of a iconic car like Ferrari Sergio Concept, Ferrari Monza SP1 or the Lamborghini Miuara concept. I am not only talking about the actual design, it is also the execution of the car. Its to many bells and whissles to make it feel thought through. "damn it, it does not feel right, add metallic, copper etc". It does not have the car designer quality, it does not feel fresh retro, it´s not a modern take on a retro theme, it looks like someone took the "original" car and sent it to pimp my ride. But that is MY opinion.

33

I get that is also a statement about car design nowadays, car design is not controlled, but largely influenced about laws and safety. But its like promoting lead based makeup again, it gives an amazing shimmer yes, but its impossible to sell it because of health and safety. So why? It would be cool if the scope was how to design a car with "old" ways of designing and it would work with modern regulations. This concept only gives the answer "this is how you designed cars in the old days".

34

True that the biggest problem with modern cars, other than the weight, is that the cartoonish styling trends of enlarging features, aggressive lines and fake grilles and vents have rendered so many ugly. This one has some gaudy touches, but it certainly isn't ugly.

35

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and in my opinion that is horrible and the little details all just look naff

36

looks like something out of speed racer, anyway interesting design .

37

But what about the engine?!

38

I will take one, I am thinking dark blue.

39
Daniel P Huneault

just look at those gauges! look at them!!!

40

Anyone who doesn't appreciate it needs to watch the video of this thing in action. It makes a raw, animalistic sound that meshes perfectly with its homage-style exterior.

@Jordan, I'm right with you on the details of the interior, as the rose gold would be much more appreciated if used in moderation. Have you ever sketched a design in one day, then returned the next day to find that you applied one color car too much, and that you could have achieved far greater depth through a variation of tone and reflective properties? I'm struck by the sense that the interior was built in a hurry, on commission, and that its designers may have "gone deeper" with it, given the time.

I think we're only getting a taste of how beautiful this car can be. Imagine someone commissioning one in the style of Aston's DB11 by the Q Division...

41
Brennan McKissick

I really wish we would see more builds from manufacturers that look more like some of the coach built cars that still have incredible amounts of engineering but aren't designed to be track animals. I get that performance is a numerical way to distinguish one car over another but I'd kill to see more cars like the Disco Volante come direct from a manufacturer.

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